Description
Setting up a military base requires substantial material, logistical, and human resources. In addition, it demands a community that is willing to embrace both the expected and unexpected changes that a new military presence may entail. In this paper, I present preliminary findings from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Mikkeli, Finland, between 2025 and 2026, where NATO's Northern European Land Command Headquarters was recently established. Operational since September 2025, the HQ is tasked with planning, preparing, and commanding NATO's land forces in Northern Europe. The paper has three main focuses: 1) understanding how the local population in Mikkeli perceives the presence of NATO HQ, 2) discussing the potential of visual ethnography as a method to grasp everyday militarisation, and 3) approaching war preparedness as an ongoing sensory activity.
